The BEST Dads Around

 Our family has been blessed with some awesome guys...our dad's!  They are hands-on, love being with our kids, and raised us pretty good!  Right?!

Papa helping Molly on her "new" Dora bike!  Only from a few Christmases ago!

Boppi with all of his grand kids...also from a few years ago!

*Think we need some more, updated pictures!

I think that my kids lucked out in the dad department, I am so blessed to have him as my partner in this life of ours!  He's sweet, funny, smart, entertaining, silly, firm when he needs to be, easy to persuade for an extra treat, lovable, detailed, handsome...we're all lucky to have him!

Love my guy so much!  My boys are blessed with a wonderful role model, leader, and guide to be great fathers someday too!  Molly is blessed to have him as her King, role model on how to treat girls and be loved on, high standards have been set for sure, and that's what she deserves!  She is for sure a daddy's girl!  

Happy Father's Day to all the amazing fathers!

5 on Friday!

Happy Summer!  Happy Friday!  It's Friday!  Friday, Friday, Friday!  Can you tell I'm happy it's Friday?!

I've found tons of cute blogs the past few weeks, and got so many ideas from all of them that I can't wait to try some of their ideas!  And I just love cute blogs! 

Since I want to be like the cool kids, I'm linking up today with some of the new cute blogs I found for 5 of Fridays!

ONE

Lazy Friday Mornings

We've had a fun, busy, summer week.  Swim lessons, gymnastics, pool time, slip-n-slide, play dates, library time, baseball, whew!  This morning, we have nothing planned and we're all lying around in our pj's, watching the new Jake and Sofia, and I'm drinking my coffee and blogging!  The weather is beautiful, the kids are getting along great fingers, toes, and arms crossed this lasts all day...spoke too soon, darn! and I have the sweetest husband ever!  Sigh, can I just bottle this day up and keep it forever?!!  

TWO

Fresh fruit and produce!

Summer is finally here at the grocery store!  Our family can only eat so many bananas and apples!  We are enjoying fresh strawberries, blue berries, black berries, raspberries, peaches, corn, zucchini, and I can't wait to get my hands on a watermelon!  My family is loving all the fruit salads, fresh salads, and variety at dinner, and so am I!

THREE

A book I can't put down!  God-Shaped Hole has been on my list for awhile and I'm loving it!  It's quirky, cute, and keeps me wanting to read more and more!  

FOUR
Be Wine

Found this little gem at Target and it's delicious, light, and every sip is summer!  Love the Pinot Grigio, but I'm excited to try the rest!  The best part, only $7 and it doesn't taste like $7 wine!

FIVE
A cute hat for the pool

I was on the mission the other night for a new swimsuit, but all I found were ones that made me look fat, old, or both.  No thanks!  Instead, I found this cute gem at Kohl's and I think it will spice up my pool look until I can find the perfect suit!  

Have a wonderful weekend!

8 Years Ago Today....

I married my best friend....

Truly one of the best days ever....

We celebrated with all of our friends...

and family....

In one of the most beautiful churches and ceremonies I've ever been a part of....

There were so many tears but all were of happiness and joy....

And then we danced the night away with all of our loved ones.....

Happy Anniversary to my best friend, God knew what He was doing when he brought us together!

Here's to many more years together

The Best Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich EVER...well, Almost!

When I was pregnant with Will four years ago, I was so sick the entire 9 months.  It was worse the 1st trimester, got a little better in the 2nd, but got worse again in the 3rd trimester.  Not cool.  But, he was worth it!

With being sick most of the nine months, a lot of foods were avoided out of trial and error.  One of those foods, was peanut butter.  I used to eat peanut butter and bananas almost daily for a snack, but, learned the very hard way that Will did NOT like the peanut butter.  I thought it was the bananas, but no, everything with peanut butter in it was not liked.  Sad.

I figured this aversion would go away after he was born, since I had lots of aversions with Jack and Molly's pregnancies and most of those came back with ease still have a hard time smelling raw meat, from Jack's pregnancy but that's a gross smell all ready.  And sometimes get car sick when going on lots of hills, thanks to Molly's pregnancy both of those were worth it too!  Well, it didn't go away once he was born, I still could not eat anything with peanut butter or peanuts without feeling sick or queasy.  Sigh.  Let me add too that Jack and Molly eat Pb & j's or PB sandwiches almost daily, yes, daily!  So, I had to smell and be around the stuff daily.  Not cool.  Sigh, again.  Once Will got to the right age, we tried giving him some PB and he hated it, spit it out and anything with PB had the same reaction from him.  At least I could validate and make some sense out of my problems with peanut butter!  He finally tried bananas with peanut butter last fall and loves that treat, that's all though with peanut butter.  

So, it's been four years that I've avoided anything with peanuts and peanut butter, until today.  I made Jack's lunch for Cub Scout camp yesterday morning and all the sudden everything looked and smelled amazing.  Was it the wonderful shocking to say, hated that smell for so long smell of peanut butter?  The mixture of the peanut butter and jelly?  I will never know.  So, I tried a little spoonful of some peanut butter and it was like a piece of heaven in my mouth and everything was fine!  My tummy was so happy!  And I couldn't stop thinking about the little spoonful of yumminess!  Today, I actually made myself my own peanut butter sandwich.

Preparing to make the best sandwich ever!

The first bite, yum!

If one could inhale food, I think I did here!  

I know a weird thing to post about but I had to share!  I'm really not planning on this to be a daily lunch choice but it hit the spot, I had to talk myself out of eating another one!  Yummy!

***Update!  It's been four hours since I ate that delicious sandwich and sadly, the happiness and yummy thoughts are gone because we're back to reality.  While worth it, looks like peanut butter will only be a distant, far friend.  Thanks for the memories peanut butter, I look forward to trying you again in another four years.

**Side note:  I've been asked if I've tried other nut spreads or alternatives to peanut butter.  I've tried almond butter and the exact same thing happened, but I can enjoy almonds in small doses!  I think I'm going to try sunflower spread next?  Any other suggestions?!

Weekend Fun with The Brew Crew!!

Happy Monday and Happy June!  And, officially, happy summer break!  Here's what we did this weekend!

Jack had his first baseball games this weekend!  Friday night and Saturday morning, he loves it and a ton of his friends from school are on his team!  Here's picture with Jack and his sweet friend Alex, we love him and his family!  

We met our neighbors new puppy Corky, he's a doll and now, we're back to having puppy fever!  This time, we're getting an actual puppy, not a 70 pound one, if we even get a puppy!

After Jack's game on Saturday, we relaxed, grilled out, and played outside all day!  A very nice first day of June!

Sunday, we ventured to Lawrence, one of my favorite places ever!  We drove through the KU campus I tried to convince Eric to quit his job, go to grad school, and all of us live at KU...he wasn't convinced  and walked through the pretty campus!  I just love me some KU!  We tried to get into Allen Field House, but it was closed on Sundays, of course!  I promised everyone Jack that we would come back up this summer when it was open!

Then, we went to the Natural History Museum!  Another favorite!  

Molly at the bug exhibit!

All three kids by the bear...remember this gem from three years ago?

She's so cute!  And the only one brave enough to stand by the "mean" bear!  

We, finally, found a Jayhawk!  

I commented to Eric that I hardly had any pictures with the kids and I, so he insisted that I get into one with with them!  Not the greatest of all of us but I approve the way I look!

Jack's at Cub Scout Day Camp all week, so we are still in school mode, since he has to be on the bus at 7:30 and doesn't get home until 4!  

Hope you all had a great weekend!  

Last Day of School!! My, How They've Grown!!

Yesterday was the last day of school!  How in the world has another school year ended?!  Why are my kids growing up so fast?  I keep putting anti-aging pills in their food I'm so totally kidding but I wish I really could but they just keep on growing and aging!  I'm so happy to have them all home with me but I'm so sad too!  Sigh!
So...here are pictures of Jack and Molly on their first and last days of school for the 2012-2013 school year!

Jack's 1st day on the left, he looks so nervous!  And of course, he was!  But the picture on the right says it all, he loved school!  Every second of it!  Such a relief that he adjusted so well!

Molly's 1st day on the left, she was a ball full of excitement!  This girl has always loved every single part of school!  She loved it starting on day one, and the picture on the right is from her end of the year celebration!  Molly had a great year!

Jack with his teacher, Ms. Santa Maria!  Isn't she cute?!  He thinks so too!

Molly with Ms. Amy!  Molly has always loved her teachers and tells us she wants to be a preschool teacher, what a compliment to all of her wonderful teachers!

We are very thankful for the great school year, school and teachers are children had this year!  I'm still, I know, STILL, adjusting to the standards and expectations in Kansas vs. Texas, huge, huge difference.  But, my kids learned a lot, grew a lot, met a lot of friends, and loved going to school daily!  What more can I ask for?!

And now, to start off your weekend with a wonderful Molly quote, who is more then excited for Kindergarten.  "Maybe, next year, they will call me Kindergarten Molly!"  Man, I love that girl!

Summer Plans!

In exactly 3 hours, I will pick Jack up from school and summer break will officially begin!  Yay!  I know I'm the most excited, he was so sad this morning!  He loves his class, teacher and school, I think he's nervous that we'll move again we better not, still not unpacked!  Hello office and all of our books!  I reassured him we will have a great, fun, relaxing summer!  No more rigid schedules, no where we HAVE to be, just fun, quality time together, and decent bed times!  Trust me on this one! I have a Pinterest board dedicated to summer fun that I've been itching to use!  Last summer was a tad of a bust according to my plans, you know, with selling a house, moving to another state, husband starting new job and not around, finding a house, spending most of our time in Kansas!  The kids had fun with their grandparents, which was awesome!  Now, I'm ready to have some fun with them!


Here are a few of our summer plans!

*Baseball games, lots!  Jack's first game is tomorrow night and he plays through mid-July!  Plus, we want to see the Royals and T-Bones!  Yum...I hear nachos with fake cheese saying my name!

*Cub Scout Camp!  Jack's first full week of summer will officially be spent at Cub Scout Day Camp!  He's so excited and he'll have such a fun time!  I'm a little dreading the 7:30 a.m arrival to the bus each morning, and Jack will be gone until 4 daily, let's talk about how tired he will be!  Oh well, I know he will love every second of the camp, being with his friends, outside and dirty!  Hope he doesn't come home with a tick as a new pet! 

*Swimming lessons!  All three kids are taking lessons or a refresher course!  Molly and Will start next week and they are so excited!

*Gymnastics!  Again, all three kids are taking gymnastics with their friends and, again, all are excited!

**Promise I'm not overscheduling my kids!  Mondays are going to be full with swimming and gymnastics, but I promise that's it!  Now, back to our summer plans!

*A few trips, I'm starting to get excited about!!  A lot of family trips and one just for mom and dad!  

*Reading and lots of it!  We are doing the reading program through our library and I plan on  going to the library a ton this summer!  Our kids love books and reading, so do I!  Jack and I just started Harry Potter last weekend!  Yay!  My dreams are coming true!  Plus, I'm requiring Jack and Molly, and this means Will too, to read at least 20 minutes a day!  And I have a reading list a mile long....I'll post about that later!

*Writing!  Practicing writing letters and numbers, letters to our friends in Texas, stories, Venn diagrams comparing books to the movie version...anything to practice, practice, practice!

*Fine motor skills:  Will needs to work on these, getting his fingers stronger!  Lots of play dough (found tons of homemade ones on Pinterest I'm excited to check out and have the kids help make!), cutting, Lego's, mixing colors with eye droppers, beads, marshmallow shooters...get those fingers strong Will!

*Gross Motor:  Milk jug toss, water balloon games to practice catching and throwing, soccer camp for Jack and Molly...later in August, lots of parks, bike riding, scooters, jump rope, along with swimming and gymnastics!

*Swimming!  Besides swimming lessons, we have our city pool passes and I'm ready to go test out the pools in our area!  Can I be honest?  Missing those Texas pools we all got spoiled with!

*Play dates!  On our way to school, we talked about who we're having over for play dates this summer!  That will be fun!

*Water balloon and water guns, enough said!

*Making our own chalk paint!  Molly will love this!

*Balloon Ping Pong!

*Science experiments!  Jack loves science, so we're going to make a mess and learn!  And we're going back to the basics!  Color mixing, baking soda and vinegar mixtures, bouncing eggs, oil and water bottles, cleaning penny's, magnets, maybe even a trip to Science City at Union Station!

*Yard Twister!  Been wanting to do this one for awhile!

*Lots of art and cooking projects!  Besides the sidewalk chalk paint, but outside collages, nature walks and collages, pudding, cookies, pies want to make my own pie crust, 4th of July treats, fruit kabobs and dip, s'mores squeal!  My faves, homemade milkshakes and ice cream, homemade cheezits, the list is endless!  

*Kansas City Places to Visit:

-The Nelson Art Museum

-The Plaza:  walk around with the kids, story time at a local book store!

-The Zoo:  plan on that one a ton!

-Deanna Rose:  

-Farmers Market:  pick up local produce, live music and events!  Love it!  Want to check out City Market too!

-Crown Center:  my kids love it down there, hopefully visit Kaleidoscope or Science City!

-Theater in the Park:  At a local park, that shows plays outside! Peter Pan is playing in July!  

-Movies!  Molly has only been to the movie theater once and Will never has, but all three kids want to see Monsters University and Despicable Me 2!  Let's be honest, I'm excited about both too!

-$1 movies at Theater in the Park!  Mary Poppins is playing at the park and it's only $1 per person!  Yay!  

-Strawberry and blue berry picking!  

-A visit to KU and the museums there! 

-Fairy Garden and Overland Park Arboretum's

-Picnic lunch and playing at Antioch Park, one of our favorites!

-Royals and T-Bones games!

-Mini-golf, heard of a fun place in Parkville, MO!

-Camp out....this is for sure on the top of my husbands list, not quite the top of mine

-Have a lemonade stand!

-Fireworks!  Bummed I missed out on Memorial Day!

-Go to a drive-in movie, might have to settle for the outside movies at Theater in the Park or Crown Center

-Starlight-Molly really wants to see Little Mermaid!  Jack said he could go too!

-Jazz Fest

-Dress up tea party

-Bowling

-Midwest Balloon Fest

-Sonic Happy Hour

-Build a fort inside

-BBQ with friends!  

-Pajama party, movies, popcorn, and stay home all day!  

I'm sure there are a few things missing, but sounds like we're going to have a great summer!  I plan on Mondays being are day at home, between the swimming lessons and gymnastics!  Tuesdays through Friday, do one thing, either going somewhere in Kansas City, or going to a park and then doing something at home!  We'll see! Everyday we will read, write, and do something educational...just don't tell my kids!!  Whew!  I better rest up for summer!  What are your summer plans?!